“I sure do,” Arch said. “You’re doing good work here, Terrence. This is exactly what this city needs more of. We could use something like Forward Progress in your old neighborhood too. And in Madison, and Edgehill, and Antioch.”

“That’s where we’re heading,” Terrence said. “God willing.”

“I’d like to help you along.”

The door opened. A group of men in suits and ties entered. I recognized the one in front; it was Rev Joseph, the preacher from Louella’s funeral.

Terrence smiled. “Right on time, Rev,” he said.

“God willing,” Rev Joseph said.

“Reverend,” Arch said. “Thank you for coming over.”

“Glad to meet you,” Rev said. “So what can we do you for, Mr. Arch?”

“Is there someplace we can talk alone?” Arch said.

Terrence tilted his head toward an open door that led to a windowless box of a room.

“Step into my office,” he said.

Arch and Averett went in first, followed by Terrence and Rev Joseph. Once they were all in that small, cramped space, they shut the door behind them, leaving me and Rev Joseph’s entourage with Terrence’s enormous companions. One wore a red bandanna as a headband and a cutoff Tennessee Oilers sweatshirt. The other wore a T-shirt with a giant Warner Brothers wb emblem on the front, surrounded by the words if you see the police . . . warn a brother!” Both had on those hideous baggy patterned bodybuilding pants worn by the sort of people who sell steroids in the locker room at Gold’s Gym.

“You guys work out a lot?” I asked.

“Yeah,” said the one in the bandanna.

“Cool,” I said. “I think I’ll have a smoke. Should I step outside?”

“The body is a temple, cuz,” said the Warn a Brother guy.

“Right,” I said.

By the time I went back in, the four who’d been meeting privately were coming out of the office. Arch and Terrence grinned and laughed as if it were Arch and not I whom Terrence had known almost all of his life. Rev Joseph was laughing as well. Nick Averett had the look of a man who had picked up the wrong suitcase at the airport by accident and arrived home to open it up and find it full of stacks of cash.

“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Mayor,” Terrence said.

“Let’s win first,” Arch said. “But thank you, Terrence. We’ll see you Sunday.”

Arch and Averett started toward the car. Rev Joseph and Arch’s workout companions headed back inside. For a moment, Terrence and I were alone.

“What the hell happened in there?” I asked.

“Politics,” Terrence said.

He laughed.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he said. “You be careful, you hear me?”

“Careful of what?”

“Nothing,” he repeated.

The same sadness I’d felt at Louella’s funeral crept up again.

“I gotta go,” I said.

Terrence nodded.

“I’ll pray for you,” he said.